Balance-staff bearing for timepieces



July 14, 1925.- 1,546,075

5. H. HORN BALANCE STAFF BEARING FOR TIMEPIECES Filed Jan. 30. 1925 Patented July 14, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST H. HORN, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO VJA'IERBURY CLOCK CO., OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION.

BALANCE-STAFF BEARING FOR TIMEPIECES.

Application filed January 30, 1925.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST H. HORN, a citizen of the United States, residing at IVaterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Balance-Staff Bearings for Timepieces; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the characters or" reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this application, and represent, 1Il- Fig. l a broken, sectional view, showing the mounting of a balance-staff in accordance with my invention, the staff itself beingrepresented in elevation.

2 a detached view, in inside end elevation, of the balance-screw.

Fig. 3 a detached, end view ot the balance-statt.

Fig. 4 a detached, inside end view of the balance-stud.

My invention relates to an improvement in balance-staff bearings for time-pieces, the object being to provide, at a trifling addi tional cost, a time-piece having conical point and conical cup bearings, with means whereby the oil employed for lubricating the same is prevented from being with drawn therefrom and distributed over the adjacent surfaces of the movement by capiL lary action.

ith these ends in view, my invention consists in a balance-stafi bearinghaving certain details of construction as will be. hercii'ia't'ter described and particularly pointed out in the claim.

As herein shown, the balance-staff 5 is termed at its ends with conical bearings G terminating in bearing-points 7 and each :t'ormed about midway of its length with a circuln'terent-ial angular groove-like recess 8 forming a sharp re-entrant angle 21, such tangles having been found to substantially check the withdrawalof oil from the bean mg by capillarly action. The said bearlngpoints 7 of the staff run in oil-receiving,

conical bearing-cups 9 respectively formed in the balance-stud 10 and balance-screw 11 of the time-piece. 'The bearing-cups 9 are formed on wider angles than the conical bearings 6 of the stafi', so that the actual running bearing thereof falls exclusively Serial No. 5,744.

upon the bearing-points 7, and so that oilpockets are formed between the points and cups for the reception of the oil employed to lubricate the beaing. As shown, the opposed inner ends of the balance-stud 10 and balance-screw 11 are formed with straight-walled, circular recesses 12 concentric with the conical bearing-cups 9, but larger in diameter than the same, and resulting in the production oft re-entrant angles 13, which substantially prevent creeping oi the oil out of the cups 9 by capillary action.

By my invention, I greatly improve, at a trifling additional cost, the act-ion and wearing qualities of balance-Stan? bearings haw ing conical points and conical cups, since I are thus enabled to check the draining away of the oil "from the cups by capillary action and its distribution over the adjacent parts of the movement, causing the bearing-points to become dry, which results not only in rapid wear but also in unsatisfactory per tormance,

As shown, the staff 5 is provided with a balance-wheel 1 ahair-spring hub 15. and a safety-roller 16. The balance-stud is lo cated in a bushing 17 set into the rear movement-plate l8 and also mounting the regulator 19, while the balanccsc-rew 11 is mounted in the front movement-plate 20.

I claim:

In a lialancc-staii bearing for t-in'ie-pieces, the combination with a. balance-staff formed at its respective ends with conical bearings terminating in beefing-points, and each formed with a circumferential, annular, groove-like recess forming a sharp re-entrant angle, of a balance-stud and balancescrew, each formed with an angular bearingcnp receiving the respective bearing-points ot the stafi. the angles of the said cups being wider than the angles of the bearingpoints and one or both of the said cups opening into a straight-unified. concentric. circular recess, resulting in the production of a re-entrant angle resisting the creeping of the oil out. of the cup by capillary action.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ERNEST H. HORN.

\Vitnesses:

HAZEL G. Arwoon, JAMES R. PUTNAM.

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